Our guilty pleasure of this concert is….wait for it……..
A medley from the Phantom of the Opera!
The original Phantom was created by Gaston Leroux in his 1909 serialized story Le Fantome de l’Opera published in Le Gaulois. The daily French paper first printed his gothic mystery, but it became so popular it was later compiled into a novel and translated into English. The title character Erik, commonly known as the Phantom is a cultured, intelligent man well versed in the arts. He also unfortunately has a serious birth defect on his face. His mother was cruel to him as a result and his Father was never in the picture. A novel by Susan Kay simply titled Phantom fleshes out his backstory and explains how he came to be at the Paris Opera House. In 1925, Leroux’s novel was made into a silent film. Check out the trailer!